RICHMOND, Va. — Since the beginning of the year, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the General Assembly have disagreed on how to spend the Commonwealth's funds. As of Monday, Virginia finally has its budget.
At one point, Youngkin sent out his own version of the budget, which left out extra funding for Metro. However, after weeks of negotiating, the two sides have a deal and Virginia has a budget for the next two years.
On Monday, the General Assembly passed the compromised $188 billion budget which, like any other compromise, left neither getting exactly what they wanted.
"Should I sign it?" Youngkin joked as others replied "Yessir!"
After months of discussion, and votes in the House and Senate in a special session Monday, the budget finally landed on Youngkin's desk Monday afternoon.
For weeks, lawmakers and Youngkin negotiated on the budget, finally coming to an agreement over the weekend.
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) tells WUSA9 that the finalized version kept some big priorities for Democrats.
"K through 12 spending was a big priority for us," Surovell said. "There's a three percent teacher raise in the budget."
For Youngkin, the governor got to cut the minimum wage increases and kept Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a move he says will save consumers money on their energy bills.
But when it came to using state money to help fund Metro's budget gap, Youngkin lost that battle.
"The governor's introduced budget did not have any additional funding for Metro," Surovell explained. "The budget we ended up passing fulfilled Metro's request."
With the finalized budget including Metro funding, Northern Virginia will not have to dip into its transit and transportation safety funds to keep Metro moving.
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